Norway (royal anthem)

Like other Scandinavian countries with monarchs (such as Denmark and Sweden), Norway also has a royal anthem. Adopted the year of Norwegian independence, the words are set to a recognizable monarchial piece of music, the same anthem as that of the United Kingdom and it’s royal family, “God Save the Queen”. (This choice may have been influenced by the royal anthem of Sweden, its neighbour from which it won independence; as its royal anthem before 1893 was also to the same tune.)

The tune was first translated into Norwegian in the 19th century, and several writers wrote lyrics for it that closely resembled the British lyrics, including Henrik Wergeland in 1841. When Norway achieved independence in 1905 and got its own monarchy, the anthem was made official with words by Nicolai Fogtmann, but the next year the lyrics were replaced with ones by Gustav Jensen, a creator of several Norwegian hymns that, together with “Kongesangen”, are still in Norwegian hymnals.

Special thanks to: Artakorn Jarusriwanna for providing me with the sheet music.